Thread: Another newbie

Will do. I traded a guy at work for a drill press and will step it down to the lowest speed.

For now, I am concentrating on grinding, but I down to just the bench grinder, as my 1x40 belt grinder just packed it in. It's amazing how one flinch can screw up so much work.

I need to make up a slower belt setup... Maybe with a furnace fan motor amd pulleys or something. Meantime, see slight improvement.

I get the impression that for some of you this hobby involves some brief, fun times in the shop that result in beautiful masterpieces in no time... Well, maybe not that easy, but a tad simpler than the half day I spent to identify the source of my latest hang up... the botched sander. Turns out to be a bearing, which is good news. Maybe I can fix it or if I can get the motor working again at least I could start the project of building something new!

Top bearing is shot.

If there are guys here that can spend brief fun times in the shop and create masterpieces, I would like to meet them and see if they could share some secrets!

I spend about 15+ hours in my shop each week (doing the knife thing mostly), on top of working full time, and I would say at least a few hours each week are spent cleaning, fixing, and doing other things rather than making progress. Then there is the occasional day (or two or three) spent on projects like you have. It's going to happen, all you can do is fix it and keep trucking.

Someplace like MSC, or McMaster Carr might carry the correct bearing if you can't get one from the manufacturer.

I've had good luck finding motor parts from places that service electric motors. Just recently got two bearings for $5.

Originally Posted by skipnord

I've had good luck finding motor parts from places that service electric motors. Just recently got two bearings for $5.

It seems there's a 'northern neighbour' tax... I just got two bearings on steep discount for $25 from a transmission supply shop, but hey, now the motor is back together. Not many parts left over, either! Tomorrow I'll reassemble the rest of the grinder if possible.

Thanks for the good words, guys. Fingers crossed, I'll be grinding again soon. I'll post again just before heat treat.

Minor progress... Some hand sanding (just 240 grit w/d).




Oh, and I tried the King 1200 stone to check the initial bevels... Might just be able to shave with these if they survive the heat treat!

My forge is done but first try was not spectacular. Need the Bernz8000 and mapp (Binford 3000).

I know some guys do take their edges to an almost finished edge before HT, but as a general rule of thumb it's a good idea to leave a little thickness on the edge before HT. Especially on a steel that takes a medium (like o1 and carbon steels that use oil) it can tend to be a violent quenching process. By that I mean if there is going to be any warping or cracking or any other damage to the blade its going to happen during this time, and the thinner the material the more apt to damage during the quench.

I also know alot of guys that will HT a piece of steel before they do any grinding. Personally it comes down to personal preference, but to get all that work done and have it ruined during the quench is disheartening. Plus if you have a little thickness on the edge if there is a little bit of warping or the like, often it can be corrected, whereas if its all the way to the edge it would make it extremely difficult to fix.

I take mine to about 1/16 of an inch... something to consider.

Help!

I tried heat treating today and had 60% success.

The good came from the forge not exploding and the new Bernz 8000 working great with propane and mapp.

The bad is that I think only half the blade length has been adequately hardened. Most of it skates a file, but near the heel it still bites.



You can see near the heel how it is scratching.

Should I leave the blade longer or work to improve the forge or what?

Thanks guys. If I get these through the heat treat phase I'll let you know.

I have another thread in 'the forge' about my continued attempts for heating and quenching.

Finally figured out the heat treat... just had to be brutal with the torch and recognize that my forge wasn't getting hot enough.

After heat treat, I sanded again, cleaned up the profile on the bench grinder, then annealed in the convection oven for 2 hrs at 400*F. Nice straw colour, so should be good.

I finally took the first one to the stones. I spent about 4 hours and used every tool I had, in roughly the following progression: King 1200, coti with thick slurry, King, axe sharpener (two-tone grey stone), King, coti, Norton 4k, King, diamond film (15 micron, 5 micron, 15 again, 5 again...), Norton 4k, coti dilucot, phig, and strop. Passed HHT after all this.

I haven't even made the scales yet, but couldn't wait. Yesterday I lathered up with SRP Sandalwood and hesitantly brought the razor to my side burn. It cut! Great shave and no road rash, although it did have some difficulty cutting my 3-4 day stubble, so I may touch it up on CrOx and strop again (once it has scales). It's a bear to hone, and will likely remain so (look at the wide bevel) but this blade was potato chip warped and I wasn't sure it was even salvageable. Makes a guy pretty proud.